Raven Rising
by Dragonsoul1
Summary: Talia Bladewing, Callsign: Phade, had always seen herself as a lone wolf, with no allies, no friends, and no family. Then the aliens attacked, and everything changed. Now leader of Strike One, Talia is shoved into new, strange situations, with nothing but her mind, her skills, and her squadmates to help her survive. Rated M for Blood, Gore, and Death. Book one of The Phade Saga
1. Chapter 1: First Contact

**A/N: I'm BAAAAAACK! I know that you lot may have missed the first version of this story, but, after talking with some other Fanfiction authors, I decided to rewrite this story. So without further delay, behold, The Phade Saga: Book one: Raven Rising!**

* * *

 _0025 Commander's Quarters, XCOM HQ, Isle of Man, UK, March 1st 2015_

Commander Sarah Rose, a 5'10", 32 year old woman with blonde hair dyed red, and stormy grey eyes, looked at the personal files of each of the members of Strike One, looking them over again, making sure she knew who these soldiers are. _'They have to be ready for what's coming, no matter what'_ She thought, as she read them again.

 _Squadie Wolfy Gahan, Callsign: Alpha, Class: Assault, Age: 26, Gender: Male, Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian, Hair: White, Scraggly, Eye Color: Blue, Height: 6'1", Distinguishing features: Partial Albino, Squad: Unassigned_

 _Squadie Anna Galanius, Callsign: Doombringer, Class: Heavy, Age: 27, Gender: Female, Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian, Hair: Brown, usually tied back in Ponytail, Eye Color: Blue, Height: 5'4", Distinguishing features: Wasp Tattoo on left cheek, Squad: Unassigned_

 _Squadie Marco Tramus, Callsign: Quantum, Class: Support, Age: 30, Gender: Male, Race/Ethnicity: African American, Hair: Lightish Red, Eye Color: Green, Height: 5' 10", Distinguishing characteristic: Stutter, Squad: Unassigned_

 _Squadie Talia Bladewing, Callsign: Phade, Class: Sniper, Age: 33, Gender: Female, Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian, Hair: Blonde, Dyed Blood Red, Eye Color: Violet, Height: 6', Distinguishing features: Curved scar on left cheek, Tattoo of Raven's head on back of right hand, Squad: Unassigned_

Sarah leaned back in her chair, looking up as a call from the council was rerouted to her desktop. "Commander, are you sure these are the men and women you want to be known as humanity's greatest hope?" Said one of the council members, their voice distorted by the voice changer.

Sarah drew a deep breath and said, "Yes, councilor. I can think of no one better then these brave souls." as she poured herself a glass of wine.

The council members exchanged looks, then one addressed the Commander. "Indeed. Then it's settled. These four individuals will, from now onward, be known as Strike One. They will lead the charge against the alien threat, and should they fall, they will be given full recognition as war heroes."

Sarah smiled, leaned back in her chair and said, "Well then, council men and women, it would appear that humanity hasn't lost yet. Goodbye." And with that, the call ended and Sarah took a sip from her glass of wine. _'Well,'_ Sarah thought, _'It looks like this won't be quite as hopeless as I thought it would be.'_

* * *

 _0425 Shanghai, China. March 1st 2015_

"Command, this is Strike One. Preparing for deployment." Big Sky said over the radio. In the back of the Skyranger, Strike One prepared for said deployment.

Squadie Talia Bladewing, callsign 'Phade', loaded her Anti-Mat rifle with armor piercing rounds. Squadie Anna Galanius, callsign 'Doombringer', flicked the safety off on her LMG. Squadie Marco Tramus, callsign 'Quantum', made sure he had his Med-Kit. Squadie Wolfy Gahan, callsign 'Alpha', pumped his shotgun and said, "Alright people, get ready to kick some alien ass!"

The skyranger landed, the back opening onto a moderately sized open area with shipping crates scattered around on their left, and a small building on their right. There were human bodies covered in a dark greenish goo sprinkled around on the ground, with no way of knowing if they were alive or not. There was no sign of any hostiles, a fact which made Talia nervous. Stealing her nerve, Talia gave the order: "Moveout!"

Moving up to one of the shipping crates, Talia assumed overwatch, leveling her Anti-Mat rifle, scanning for enemies, Anna ran up to a pile of small wooden boxes next to one of the large shipping crates, readying her M249 SAW, Marco ran up to a porta-potty next the small administrative building, M16 cocked and ready, "Contact!" Shouted Wolfy as he slid into cover, SPAS 12 at the ready, "two hostiles!" They still didn't know what to call the enemies that they were encountering for the majority of their missions, but they looked like those little green men you would normally see in some B-movie, with some kind of energy weapon attached to their arms. Not very intimidating in the long run. "I see 'em" growled Talia, lining up a shot, and blowing the head off of one of the hostiles, "What do we even call these things anyway? Greys? Sectoids?"

Wolfy blew the other hostile off the pier with a well placed shotgun shell, "Sectoids sounds good. What do the rest of you think?" Anna shrugged, not saying anything. Marco said "W-well-l, I don't hav-ve an-ny b-b-better-r ideas, I guess 'Sectoid' w-work-ks"

Talia nodded, and said "'Sectoids' it is, then. Now, move up!"

Wolfy nodded and ran up to another pile of boxes. He spotted another group of Sectoids, and called out their positions to Talia. "Acknowledged, lining up target one of five," she shouted, hefting her anti-mat rifle. However, before she could fire, Marco circled around to the right and fired a quick burst, killing one of the Sectoids, while Anna went left, flanking the second Sectoid, before ending it with a twenty round burst of fire from her M249 SAW. This left three Sectoids - one behind a pile of crates in front and to the right of Anna, one to the far right of that one, and one behind that one. "Alpha, get the one that's just ahead of you! I've got the other two..." Talia yelled as she lined up her first shot, bringing the first Sectoids head into the center of her crosshairs, not needing any adjustments for wind or distance, and pulled the trigger. The Sectoids head exploded as the bullet made contact, green gunk went everywhere, and bits of alien head splattered all over everything near by, painting it all a bright orange color, mixed with green. "Ew!" Shouted Anna, "Phade, why can you never kill anything without it exploding into bits of goo?!"

Talia chuckled, saying "I guess I just like to make a mess!"

Wolfy shook his head, blasted one of the two remaining Sectoids clear off the Pier, and yelled "Last one's yours, Phade!"

Talia grinned, and fired her Steyr IWS 2000, a 15.2x169mm round going from zero to 4,757 feet per second almost instantly, the round flew from the muzzle of the rifle to the head of the Sectoid in less then a second, the impact obliterating the Sectoids head in an instant. The radio on Talia's vest crackled to life. "Strike One, this is Central. We're detecting a strange energy signature in your area. Please investigate. Over"

Talia clicked her radio on and said "Affirmative, I'll investigate. Alpha, watch my back!"

As Talia approached the location of the energy signature, she discovered that it was coming from a strange five foot tall pod with what looked like some sort of crystal floating inside of a rotating casing, "Central, this is Phade. Energy signature appears to be coming from some sort of canister. Should I attempt retrieval? Over," Talia radioed to Central After a short pause, Central replied, "Phade, this is Central. You are clear to attempt retrieval." Talia nodded, walked up to the canister, and deactivated the self-destruct sequence. As she stood up, she touched the crystal inside the the canister. Then her vision went white.

* * *

 _0845 XCOM HQ, Isle of Man, UK, March 15th 2015_

Talia slowly opened her eyes, and immediately regretted that decision. "Ugh, why do I have a hangover to end all hangovers?"

"I believe that is the alien substance that you touched, but I'm still unsure how it works..." said someone who Talia hadn't heard prior to that point. "Who are you?" asked Talia. "And why are you sitting next to my bed? And why am I in a bed in the first place?"

"To answer your questions, my name is Doctor Moira Vahlen, I am next to your bed because the commander wanted me to give you your debriefing, and you are in bed because you've been unconscious for the past two weeks. We're pleased that you have returned to us," said Doctor Vahlen. Talia did a quick look over of the Doctor, she was 5'9", with brown hair tied back in a ponytail. As for what she was wearing, it appeared that she was wearing slacks, and an XCOM sweater (yes, those exist) underneath a Labcoat. The doctor stood up and poured two glasses of water, one for Talia, and one for herself, as she turned back to give the glass of water to Talia, she found Talia had somehow, over the course of fifteen seconds, changed into a purple tee-shirt, jeans, and a pair of fingerless purple gloves that went up to her elbows. She adjusted her belt, then looked at Dr. Vahlen like she had just seen a statue move. It was an unblinking stare - nervous, like if blinked, she would die. "What is it?" Vahlen asked, confused. "Nothing" Talia said "it's just you've been standing in front of the water dispenser for the past fifteen minutes..." Vahlen looked startled and confused, "What do you mean? It's only been fifteen seconds..."

Talia shook her head, and muttered something along the lines of "Maybe that stuff I touched gave me time distortion abilities or something."

"What was that?" asked Vahlen.

Talia shook her head. "Nothing, it's nothing. What's on my debriefing?"

Vahlen smiled. "To begin with, you've been promoted to sergeant, and your squad mates have been promoted to corporal. Research on the material you recovered is underway, and should be done by the end of next week. You and your squad have been given one week of R&R."

Talia looked up, her eyes wide in surprise, "I'm a sergeant?! Huh. I guess the commander DOES remember our time together back before the Incident..." Talia shook her head, recomposing herself. "Am I dismissed?"

Vahlen nodded, replying "For now, yes, but I would like to keep you here under observation for another day."

* * *

 _0900 XCOM HQ, Isle of Man, UK, March 16th 2015_

The next day, Talia walked into her quarters. Her room was small, only fifteen feet by fifteen feet, with a bookshelf covering one wall, a bed shoved into a corner, and a small writing desk in the opposite corner. Knowing that no one would be able to see her emotional state, she curled up in the corner of her room, under her writing desk, pulled off her gloves, picked up her knife, and started to cut herself, each cut one inch long, and a quarter inch apart. As she cut, she remembered the names: squadmates she had lost in Afghanistan, civilians whom she hadn't been able to save, people who had died trying to help her get back to her base, "Sergeant Eric Lanford" Cut. "Sergeant first class Amelie Johnson" Cut. She continued cutting, once for each person who had died because of her, or at least, the ones whose names she knew...

Finally, she reached the end of the list, forty eight names, forty eight cuts. Finally, she put bandages on over her cuts, and put her gloves on over them to hide them. She laid back on her bed, and turned on her music playlist. The first song was Through the Fire and Flames, by Dragonforce. As the extreme power metal music blared, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, letting the loud music suppress her thoughts, allowing her some rest, at least for a little while.

* * *

 **A/N: and that is the first chapter! as you can see it has been GREATLY improved from the original version, the characters have actually been described, as well as the enemies, I've actually told you what kind of gun their using, and the characters actually have some depth to them. Anyway time for acknowledgements, thank-yous and honorable mentions! First off, Many thanks to Wolfdragon1, my beta reader, for making sure that this story is actually readable. Thank you to Filthy Landlubber, for pointing out all of the many, MANY errors I made in the original. Thank you to Akari78 for making the cover art, and reviewing every chapter of the first version. And thank you to several of the people who I know IRL for inspiring me, and keeping me going, even when I was having a really sh*t time of it. And so, it begins.**


	2. Chapter 2: Van Doorn

**A/N: Just so everyone knows, as soon as my school year ends, expect chapter quality to go up a little bit...**

* * *

 _0330 XCOM HQ, Isle of Man, UK, March 20th 2015_

"Strike One, prepare for deployment. Repeat, Strike One, prepare for deployment" came blaring over the intercom, waking Talia from her slumber. She stood up, fixed her braid, and made a mad dash for the armory, hoping to get there before the rest of her team. When she arrived, however, she discovered that she was the last one there, "I guess I'm a rotten egg..." she said, and walked over to the weapon rack on the east wall. She grabbed her Steyr IWS 2000, an IMI Desert Eagle, and three spare mags for each.

"Hey Phade, how're you holding up?" asked Wolfy, strapping on his Kevlar vest.

"Fine, why?" replied Talia, as she placed her weapons on the table in the middle of the room and walked over to the armor rack, looking for her own Kevlar vest.

"It just seems like you're a bit depressed, that's all..."

Talia looked at Wolfy, and snarled, "My physical and mental welfare are none of your concern, if you have a problem with that Corporal, take it up with the commander." And with that, she promptly turned back to looking for her Kevlar.

"I wonder what crawled up her ass and died," muttered Anna, pulling back the bolt on her M249 SAW.

"I HEARD THAT, Doombringer!" Talia shouted, finally finding her Kevlar vest and pulling it on.

"H-how c-c-could y-you-u ha-have-ve? Th-there-re's, l-like-ke tw-twent-tey feet b-b-b-betwe-en you two, a-and she wa-wa-was ta-alking-ing at MAYBE forty decib-bles-s..." Marco said, looking at Talia.

Talia shook her head, and said, "I don't know, I think it has to do with the crystal stuff that was in that canister, but I'm not sure... Anyway, is everyone ready?!"

A chorus of "Yes Ma'am!"'s answered her, and she smiled. She slid the bolt on her Rifle back, and chambered her first round. "Then let's roll!"

* * *

 _0330, skies over the Pacific Ocean, March 20th 2015_

"Okay, Strike One, here's your mission. The council wants you to investigate an alien attack on a UN military convoy just outside of New York. Your primary objective is to locate and rescue UN Official General Peter Van Doorn, providing he's still alive. As always, make sure to eliminate any hostile in the AO." The transmission from XCOM HQ cut out, leaving the Skyranger in silence for all of two seconds. Then Talia spoke up. "Sounds easy enough. Rescue the good general, kill any alien bastards we run into, and come home. Piece of cake."

Wolfy shook his head at her attitude, and added "...and make sure we don't get ourselves killed."

Talia smiled "That too..."

She stood up and walked over to a storage locker in the front of the Skyranger, pulled out four helmets, and handed one to each member of the team as well as keeping one for herself.

"These are a little something that the engineering team cooked up for us at my request. Each one has a tactical HUD, a flashlight, and a built in radio. We will be wearing these at all times, if you need backup, healing, or anything else, you need only ask. Also, these will reduce volume on gunfire, so you shouldn't need to worry about shouting to be heard."

Wolfy looked over his new headgear. "Why does mine have wolf ears?"

Talia chuckled, and replied "Each one is customized to have a unique appearance. Mine is sleeker than the other helmets, and it has a black color scheme."

Anna looked over her helmet, which had a white skull design on the face plate.

Marco simply placed his new helmet in his lap, unimpressed with the lightish red coloration and simplistic design.

* * *

0730, outskirts of New York City, USA, March 20th 2015

Talia and her team walked out onto the burned and broken remains of a highway on the outskirts of New York City. The AO was a straight area about 150 meters long and 30 meters wide, with cars scattered all over the place. Military vehicles were interspersed here and there.

"Alright, move out!" Talia shouted. She ducked behind a toppled Half-track, raising her AMR up, and looking down the scope. "Remind me to thank Doctor Shen for upgrading this thing," she muttered, as she scanned the AO for hostiles. She observed only civilians.

"This can't be right... Hey, Alpha, you see any hostiles?" Talia radioed to Wolfy.

"No, but I do see something very odd. There are some civilians with alien weaponry. They all seem to have the same outfit though, so if they're hostiles, they should be easy to identify."

"Alright then. Alpha, approach one of these 'civilians'. Cautiously"

Wolfy nodded, and slowly approached a 'civilian' who was standing on top of an upside down truck, SPAS 12 at the ready. When he was about three meters from him, he yelled "Hey! Drop the weapon!"

The 'civilian' whirled and raised the Alien gun, firing at Wolfy. A futile effort, as Wolfy dodged both shots easily and then responded with two shots of his own. As the 'civilian' went down, a cloud of gas erupted from his corpse. Startled, Wolfy jumped back and shouted "DEFINITELY NOT HUMAN!"

"You can say that again! But at a lower volume," replied Talia."I TOLD you you didn't have to shout with these helmets!" She lined up a shot with one of the remaining 'civilians', succeeding in hitting it and noting the same gaseous cloud being released from the body.

Suddenly there was a shout. A human shout. One that wasn't from Talia, or the rest of Strike One, "AHHHH! CRAP! IS THERE ANYONE WHO CAN HELP ME?"

"Alpha!" Talia yelled, "Go check it out!"

Wolfy didn't need any prompting. He ran towards the shout, finding a US Army Specialist squatting behind a sideways car. The soldier was holding an empty Beretta M9, desperately trying to scare off a 'Civilian' who was walking up to him with its strange weapon pointed at his chest. It never had a chance to fire. Wolfy took aim, and an A 12 Gauge shotgun shell slammed into the side of its head, killing it instantly.

"You okay there, kid?" Wolfy asked the soldier, kneeling down next to him and reaching to clean and bandage the long, deep cut in his arm.

"Yeah... yeah, I'm okay, just a bit shaken up is all." The Soldier rubbed the back of his head. "Look, you trying to find Van Doorn? He's just up the road, went looking for one his men who got caught in the explosion. Please, try and get him back safely, I was assigned to be his escort, if he dies, it'll be on me..."

Wolfy smiled, and said "Don't worry, kid. We'll get him back safely"

Anna ran up to the car where Wolfy was finishing up with the soldier. "We've got company, Wolfy. Twelve o'clock. Two Sectoids."

Wolfy peaked over the top of the car and saw the two Sectoids converging on a car about twenty five meters ahead. A car, with the VIP hiding behind it. "Phade, we've found the VIP. From here, he looks a little worse for wear, but otherwise unharmed. There are also two hostiles converging on his position. Permission to engage?"

"Permission granted. Go. I'll give you some cover fire," Talia said, lining up a Sectoid and blowing it's head to smithereens. Marco followed Talia's lead, killing the other Sectoid with a burst of M16 fire.

"X-Ray n-n-neutral-l-lized-ed" Marco stuttered out, checking his HUD for any more hostiles.

"Affirmative. Alpha, you are clear to approach the VIP," Talia said, zooming in on the area.

Wolfy nodded, and ran up to where General Van Doorn, a bald, middle age man, wearing a US army uniform, was hiding. Taking cover next to him, Wolfy said "Don't worry, general, we're here to help."

The general nodded, and said "Thanks for the assist, What outfit you from? I haven't seen uniforms like THAT before"

Wolfy smiled. "We're XCOM!"

Before Van Doorn could reply, Talia's voice came on over the radio. "Alpha! I just got a message from Central. We've got hostiles converging on your location. Grab the general and get your asses out of there!"

"Copy that Phade, moving to the evac point!" Wolfy replied, before turning to the general and saying "Come on, let's go!" Wolfy started running for the evac point, the general on his heels.

A group of seven Sectoids popped up and started firing at the two of them, forcing them to take cover behind a mostly intact car. Bolts of energy slammed against the opposite side of the car.

"Phade, can you get rid of the Sectoids that are keeping us pinned?!" Wolfy shouted, loading two more shells into his SPAS 12.

Talia looked at the positions of the Sectoids, and called out orders. "Doombringer, lay suppressing fire on the Sectoids on the far left, Quantum, take out the middle three, then prepare the med kit. Alpha, make a dash for the evac point with the VIP on my mark."

Anna, running to the location marked on her HUD by Talia, pushed out the bipod on her SAW, set it down on top of the traffic divider in front of her, and pulled the trigger. Bullets sprayed Sectoids on the far left."RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" she roared.

Meanwhile, Marco snuck around behind the Sectoids, flanking them, and shot the three that Talia had marked for him. A single burst to each was more than enough to kill them.

That left two Sectoids still shooting at Wolfy and Van Doorn. A well placed shot from Talia took out one of them. However, before she could kill the other one it fired a shot at the gas tank of the vehicle that they were hiding behind. To Talia, time seemed to slow down. "ALPHA, GO! GET OUT OF THERE!" she screamed, but it wasn't soon enough. She saw them run for the Skyranger, but Wolfy was too slow. The car exploded. Shrapnel went flying everywhere. Two large pieces scythed through the air, and hit Wolfy. One sliced off his left arm, the other removed his right leg. Something inside of Talia snapped. With inhuman speed, she turned to face the surviving Sectoid. Bringing her rifle up, she centered the crosshairs on the head of the enemy and fired. Time sped up again, and the head of the Sectoid exploded, splattering green gunk, orange blood, and alien brains everywhere. Talia slowly stood up. "Quantum, stabilize Alpha. Doombringer, get Van Doorn to the evac point." Then her vision went black, and she slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

 _1245 XCOM HQ, Isle of Man, UK, March 25th 2015_

Talia stood next to Vahlen and Shen, a bald Asian man in his sixties, wearing slacks and an XCOM sweater, inside of XCOM's main laboratory, listening to the Commander and Central officer John Bradford, a thirtyish brown haired, Caucasian man, also wearing an XCOM sweater and slacks, discuss the doctors' findings on the crystal that had been inside of the canister recovered on Strike One's first mission. They were still experimenting with it, but they were definitely making progress. They had concluded (for sure) that when Talia had touched the crystal, a substance in it (they were calling it "Meld") had injected itself into her bloodstream and spread throughout her body. Such a small amount had only had a minimal effect on her, but that was almost certainly where her brief bout of 'superpowers' had come from. They believed that, with time and the proper facilities, they would be able to use the crystal to create replacement limbs for Wolfy, possibly even making a sort of Mech suit for him (although that would mean they would have to remove his remaining limbs). Talia had her own idea about how to use the stuff.

"So, Vahlen, you said that you could genetically modify people with this 'Meld' stuff, right?" Talia asked, looking over at the doctor.

"Yes, why?" Vahlen asked warily, glancing at Talia.

"I want to be gene modded."

Vahlen, stunned, turned to look at Talia. "With the Meld? You can't be serious?!" Vahlen exclaimed. But Talia's face told her all she needed to know. Talia was very serious.

* * *

 _0900 XCOM HQ, Isle of Man, UK, March 26th 2015_

Commander Sarah Rose looked over the files that lay open on her desk. One was a personnel file for the new member of XCOM that would be joining Strike one as their new assault:

 _Corporal Faye Mustang, Callsign: Fullmetal, Class: Assault, Age: 21, Gender: Female, Race/Ethnicity: Asian, Hair: Black, Eye Color: Hazel, Height: 5' 11", Distinguishing features: Snake Tattoo running down right arm, Squad: Unassigned_

According to the file in front of her, this Faye Mustang had no prior experience with military operations or firearms but was very good at throwing knives. The other file on her desk was from Corporal Gahan, requesting to become the first of the 'MEC troopers', as Doctor Shen called them. She had read over the request thoroughly, and had decided to approve it. This meant she would have to have Talia trained to command an additional soldier in combat. She sighed, and began writing an email to Bradford, thinking _'This is going to be a loooooong week'_

* * *

 **A/N: And that's the second chapter! hope y'all have a good week, and I'll see you next week in Chapter Three "Rehab/Day off"!**


	3. Chapter 3: Rehab and Day off

**A/N: Have a Third Chapter everyone! And Happy mothers day!**

* * *

 _1300, Infirmary, XCOM HQ, Isle of Man, UK, April 3rd 2015_

Talia opened her eyes again and slowly sat up in her bed in the infirmary. She lifted her right arm, watching the orange lines flicker and dance across her skin, a sign that she was no longer entirely human. She had been right about using the Meld for gene modifications, and had bulldozed Dr. Vahlen into experimenting with it on her. It had worked! She knew that the other soldiers on the base might not have the same opinion of genetic modification as she did, but she also knew that they wouldn't try anything stupid.

 _'Am I really Lieutenant now?'_ she thought, watching the meld patterns dance across her skin. So many changes in such a short time took getting used to.

Closing her hand, she swung her legs off the bed, and stood up. She saw her clothes on the chair next to her bed. She smiled, and quickly changed clothes, pulling her gloves on, buckling her belt, and straightening her shirt. Showtime.

* * *

 _1310, Mess hall, XCOM HQ, Isle of Man, UK, April 3rd 2015_

"Hey guys, she's back!" shouted Anna, as she spotted Talia walking into the mess hall.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm back, get used to it..." grumbled Talia as she sat down next to Anna and started to pick at her food. She was not really feeling hungry.

"H-how d-d-do yo-ou th-think-k Alpha is d-d-doing-ng?"asked Marco, chowing down on the pile on his tray.

Talia was about to reply when, with the consistently enhanced hearing that she had gotten from her Gene Mods, she heard a soldier sitting at the table behind her commenting to his companions. "Those idiots think they can just mess with God's creations and not get punished for it? Their funeral..."

"One moment," said Talia to her team. She turned around and tapped the soldier on the shoulder. "What was that about genetic enhancements being immoral?"

The soldier scowled. "People shouldn't change themselves artificially, It's wrong to think that you can mess with God's creations."

Talia leaned in very close to the soldier and growled. "Now listen here, bub, I have a friend who lost limbs - and almost his life - to protect our people. The only reason he's going to be able to continue to fight is because we can give him cybernetic replacement limbs. Now, I'm not one to take sides on a debate like this one, but let me tell you, if losing your idea of our humanity helps us preserve the lives of others, than I am MORE than happy to make that sacrifice."

The soldier with the insulting attitude stood up, and yelled. "You bitch! I will not be talked back to by a woman masquerading as a soldier! A chick who needs genetic enhancements to be part of the fight shouldn't be here at all. It's bad enough they let you become soldier-"

The soldier was interrupted by Talia's fist impacting his face. Hard. He went flying across the room, hit the wall on the opposite side of the room, and slid to the floor, unconscious.

"Well, that was refreshing. One sec, I'm gonna grab a soda, anyone else want one?" Talia asked, grinning. The rest of Strike One just looked at her, mouths hanging open.

Finally, Anna closed her mouth, swallowed, and said, "Talia, you do realize you just punched someone more than forty-five feet across the room, right?"

Talia looked from the unconscious soldier to where she was standing, back to Anna, back to the unconscious soldier, then back to Anna before saying, "Forty eight feet, actually. Now did you want a soda, or am I just grabbing one?"

"Um, I'm looking for Lieutenant Talia Bladewing; do you know where she is?" Asked a new soldier, looking around nervously.

"You just found her, kid, now why were you looking for me?" asked Talia, looking at the girl who looked no older than seventeen, with black hair, hazel eyes, and a snake tattoo running down one arm.

"I-I was t-told to find you, I'm Corporal Faye Mustang, Callsign: Fullmetal. I'm the new member of your squad..."

Talia turned to her rather abruptly. "What? Does that mean I'm in charge of a five person squad, or are you replacing Alpha?"

Faye shrugged. "I don't know, Ma'am. All I know is that I was to report to you for assessment, whatever that means..."

Talia smiled, "It means that you-" and she tapped Faye's shoulder harder than she meant to, causing her to stumble backwards, "-are going to be answering a few questions for me. Meet me at my quarters in half an hour,"

Faye nodded and turned to leave, but Talia stopped her long enough to add,"Oh, and welcome to XCOM kid..."

* * *

 _1310, MEC Bay, XCOM HQ, Isle of Man, UK, April 3rd 2015_

"You know, you really need to stop doing this, Corporal," said Ariel Jaramillo, an XCOM project engineers. A 5"2' 23 year old with brown eyes and hair dyed cyan, she inspected the shoulder joint of Wolfy's left shoulder. "You still don't have know the limits of your own strength, let alone have control over it..."

"I know, I know, but I just- I don't like just sitting around, not doing anything, when I could be out there, taking the fight to the aliens..." said Wolfy, annoyed.

"Yes, but hitting one of the punching bags so hard that your fist goes through it is NOT how you express that," Ariel pointed out. She slotted Wolfy's cyber arm back into place, shoving it back into the socket, and connected the circuits with the ones in his shoulder. This caused him to let out a yell of pain, which Ariel ignored.

"There, all done. With maintenance and with Rehab. Just remember to come back to the MEC bay after each mission for repairs and such," Ariel reminded Wolfy, slapping him on the back as he stood up.

"Thanks for everything, Ariel. You've been a great help as my engineer, and as my friend," said Wolfy as he stood up.

But as he turned to go Ariel put her hand on his shoulder. "Wait, Corporal, I-"

"Wolfy. Call me Wolfy" said Wolfy, blushing slightly and turning to face her.

"Ok, Wolfy, I just- You're welcome. And, keep in touch..." Ariel said, grabbing one one elbow, and looking towards the ground, breaking eye contact.

Wolfy grinned and said "Will do..." And with that he left, heading to the Mess Hall, hoping to meet up with the rest of Strike One.

* * *

 _1340, Talia Bladewing's quarters, XCOM HQ, Isle of Man, UK, April 3rd 2015_

Talia was laying on her bed studying the patterns that the Meld made on her skin when there was a knock on the door. She heard an "Um, hello?" from someone in the hallway.

"Come in, Faye," said Talia, lowering her arm and pulling her glove back on as she swung her legs off the bed and stood up, .

"H-how did you know it was me?" Faye asked, walking in and looking around the room, "Wow!"

Talia chuckled "That's what most people say, I didn't take you for a 'Most People' kind of person"

Faye looked around the room trying to find somewhere to sit, before Talia motioned for her to sit on the bed, taking a seat next to her. "Now then, Faye. What kind of person do you think you are?"

"I'm... sorry?" asked Faye, looking very, VERY confused.

"I mean, what kind of person do imagine yourself as," said Talia, looking at Faye, "Oh, and I knew it was you because of a combination of bioelectric skin, and a Canine sense of smell. Don't ask."

Faye thought for a moment, then said, "I'd like to think that I'm a good person, kind and selfless and all that, but in reality I'm not sure I'm as good a person as I'd like to be..." She shook her head, and paused for a moment before continuing, "In all honesty, while I am kind, and fairly selfless, I have a lot of flaws, like anyone else. And, um, I hope that I can perform well as a soldier under your command, Ma'am"

Talia smiled. "You sound just like I did when I joined the US military, but then-" she stopped herself. "No, I'm not ready to tell that story to anyone, not yet. Anyway, let me disillusion you about something: This is a war. There are no 'Good Guys' or 'Bad Guys', because war... War is Hell, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise... Is it kind to save the child lying wounded on the street, knowing that in another year he'll be used as a forced suicide bomber against his own people?Is it selfless to save one person on your team at the risk of losing three others? In war, morality is relative. And in war, you can't save everyone, I learned that lesson the hard way."

Faye nodded, and, in the end, they ended up just talking for almost two hours. It was unusual for Talia to spend that long just talking with anyone these days, but they never touched on anything too personal, so it felt okay.

Finally, Faye stood up to leave, but as she turned the door handle, Talia called out "Oh, also - while we're in the field or with anyone from XCOM, call me Phade. And when it's just us, you can call me Talia."

Faye smiled warmly and nodded. "Okay, Ma- Talia" and she left the room, making sure not to let the door make too much noise.

Talia lay back down on her bed, thinking _'Can I trust her? Is she someone I can confide in? No- No, she can't be, not yet.'_ she pulled off her gloves, grabbed her knife, and hid under her desk. She began cutting again, only to find that each time she cut herself, it healed itself almost instantly, not leaving so much as a scar.

 _'Can't I even have this much of a respite?'_ She thought, pulling her gloves back on and lying down on her bed. She put her music back on, this time opting to listen to 'Artemis' by Starlyte  & Krale. As the Progressive House music filtered through her room, she closed her eyes, and, eventually fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.

* * *

 **A/N: *An African or a European swallow, I wonder? Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Special thanks to two IRL friends, for letting me base characters on them. And again, Thanks to Wolfdragon1 and his friend Wraithwalker, for being awesome Betas! also, special thanks to Filthy Landlubber and Akari78, for giving me advice, support, and just being good Digital Friends in general!**

 **Also, my update schedule is going to be undergoing a few changes, I'm still going to try for updates every Monday, but I AM going to be giving myself some flexibility by allowing myself to postpone updates to Tuesdays, since I have a philosophy class on Mondays at 9:30, meaning that, if I want time for Starbucks, I have to be up and out the door by 9:00. hopefully, this extra time should allow me to put together longer, higher quality chapters.**

 **Anyway, thanks for staying with me for these first three chapters, and I hope you'll be back for Chapter four: Terror in Cardiff!**


	4. Chapter 4: Terror in Cardiff

**A/N:Well folks, have a fourth chapter!**

* * *

 _1300, Talia Bladewing's quarters, XCOM HQ, Isle of Man, UK, April 6th 2015_

"Strike teams One and Two, report for combat. Repeat, Strike teams One and Two, report for combat!" came blaring over the intercom, interrupting Talia's music.

"Shit, Strikes One AND Two?" Talia said to herself as she leaped out of bed, ran out of her room, and made a mad dash for the Armory. As she ran down the hallway, she thought of what could POSSIBLY warrant the commander calling in two strike teams at once. 'Terror attack maybe? No, the aliens aren't THAT bold, are they?'

* * *

 _1310, Armory, XCOM HQ, Isle of Man, UK, April 6th 2015_

As she approached the armory, she saw all of Strike One, excluding Wolfy, had already arrived, along with two of the four members of Strike two. She tried to remember the personnel files that the Commander had sent her the day after she joined XCOM, as a way of saying 'You're going to be a squad leader Bladewing, and I want you to be familiar with all of the people you could end up working with.' After a moment, she called to mind the information about the members of Strike Two that were currently in the armory:

 _Sergeant Katelyn Green, Callsign: Catgirl, Class: Assault, Age: 29, Gender: Female, Race/Ethnicity: Latina, Hair: Brown dyed Green, Eye color: Left eye: Red. Right eye: Blue, Height: 5'11", Distinguishing features: Heterochromia, Squad: Strike Two_

 _Corporal William Heinrich, Callsign:Freyr, Class: Support, Age: 40, Gender: Male, Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian, Hair: Blonde, Eye color: Blue, Height: 6'3", Distinguishing features: Scar running from left side of forehead to left side of chin, Extensive special operations training, Squad: Strike Two._

"If my memory serves me correctly," Talia thought, "they joined up about a week apart, but Heinrich had a ton of previous experience so despite being technically a lower rank, he started teaching her and through their training they've become a strong pair. That could be useful.". She put her IWS 2000 on her loadout table and walked over to the racks of Kevlar, trying to find one that fit right.

"Hey, Phade?" said Katelyn, "You know why we're both being deployed?"

Talia shook her head. "No, I don't have any ide-" She suddenly stopped what she was saying and stared at the latest person to arrive in the armory. "You."

It was the soldier from the mess hall, but now Talia recognized him

 _'Corporal Philip Arsten, Callsign: Wrecker, Class: Heavy, Age: 22, Gender: Male, Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian, Hair: Brown, Eye color: Brown, Height: 5'11", Distinguishing features: N/A, Squad: Strike Two, World Class Asshole,'_ thought Talia, as she turned to face him.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the little inhuman b-" Philip began.

"Wrecker, shut up! Phade is kommandant for zis operation." William warned, his thick, German accent ringing out loudly. Turning to Talia, the he said, "Please excuse our squadmate, I can promise you that he does not represent the best of our squad, and he vill learn manners. I will ensure it."

Talia nodded, growling, "I hope you're right, for all our sakes." She then turned around and resumed pulling out her Kevlar vest.

Katelyn sighed, and turned to whisper in William's ear "I hope the Rune get's here soon. Being 'round Wrecker without him always gives me the willies..."

William nodded, and they continued their conversation, unaware that Talia's new 'superhearing' meant that she could hear every word they said.

Talia thought back, remembering the personnel files of Strike Two. _'Rune would be Corporal Hai Yue Long, Callsign: Rune, Class: Sniper, Age: 26, Gender: Male, Race/Ethnicity: Asian, Hair: White, Eye color: Red, Height: 6'11" Distinguishing features: Albino, Squad: Strike Two. Personally, I would've been good with him on Strike One, except that we already have a sniper and anyway he requested to be assigned to Strike Two. Wonder why? Still, he's a good person, I think I can trust him to keep the rest of his squad safe...'_

Talia slung her AMR over her shoulder, and turned to leave for the Hanger, when she heard a mechanical whirring noise. Turning around, she saw Wolfy, now 8'6" in his MEC suit, walking up to the weapons rack, and grabbing a Minigun from the rack. "Sergeant, I am now fully equipped and combat ready. What are your orders?"

Talia looked Wolfy up and down. "The MEC suit's very impressive. Are you able to keep up in it yet?"

Wolfy nodded, still waiting for orders.

"Go wait for us in the Hanger," she said. "We'll be there as soon as we're all equipped."

Wolfy nodded, turned, and walked out of the armory, heading towards the Hanger. Talia turned back to the other soldiers in the armory and discovered that, while she had been talking with Wolfy, Hai Yue had arrived.

"Hello, Rune," said Talia, as the sniper walked to the weapons rack and pulled out his custom Barrett M82A1.

Hai Yue had personally requested to the Commander that he be allowed to use his custom rifle instead of the standard issue Steyr IWS 2000, insisting that he would just as effective with it, if not more so. After a long chat with the Commander, she had agreed to let him use it on one mission as a trial run. Needless to say, he performed well and there was never a need to revisit the matter.

"Hello, Phade, I take it you're Field Commander on this mission?" asked Hai Yue, pulling on his kevlar vest and slinging his Rifle over his shoulder.

Talia nodded, and looked around the room. Everyone had their weapons, armor, and utility items. The medics had their medkits, the heavies had their grenades, the assaults had their throwing knives, and the snipers had their extra mags. "Alright everyone, let's see what the aliens are up to!" she shouted, earning a wholehearted "Hoorah!" from the other members of Strike One, and most of the other members of Strike Two. Missing form the cheer were the ever quiet Hai Yue, and the World Class Asshole, Philip.

* * *

 _1315, Hanger, XCOM HQ, Isle of Man, UK, April 6th 2015_

"Okay, I'm sure you're all wondering why I'm deploying TWO Strike teams on this mission instead of one, so let assuage SOME of your concerns. It's not because Bradford wouldn't let me deploy three," the Commander said, and waited for the laughter to die down. "It's because there's been a terror attack in progress in Cardiff." A few gasps from the collected soldiers. "We're going in to protect as much of the civilian population as possible. It could get ugly. Good luck!" With that, the Commander turned around and walked out of the hanger.

Talia nodded, turned to the other soldiers and said "You heard the lady! Move out! Quickly!"

* * *

 _1730, Cardiff, Wales, April 6th 2015_

The Skyranger set down on the end of a long Pier, with a large warehouse dominating its center, and various shipping crates scattered around the LZ. There were also two boats docked to either side of the pier.

"Alright people, let's move!" Yelled Talia, hefting her AMR, and dashing up to the nearest shipping crate, forming a plan in her head.

This plan was shot to bits, however, when Wolfy yelled "Contact!" and pointed to a group of creatures that looked like a human who had their body cut in half, then had their arms and torso cybernetically augmented with claws, a gasmask and a jetpack.

"Take 'em down!" Yelled Talia, and Arsten and Anna blew the new types of alien apart with sustained LMG fire.

"Target's eliminated." Said Anna, lowering her M249.

"Good, now than, here's the plan" said Talia, as she scanned the area for hostiles "Me and Rune will go inside of the warehouse, and use the balconies that run around the inside to snipe hostiles, Alpha will clear out any hostiles on the inside of the warehouse, the rest of Strike One will go along the east side of the warehouse, rescue civilians, and eliminate hostiles, while the rest of Strike Two will do the same on the west side. Now, any questions?"

A chorus of "Negative"'s came through the radio, making Talia smile, "Alright then, let's get this show on the road!"

Talia broke cover, and began running for the warehouse, she opened the large metal door on the front of the warehouse for Wolfy and Hai Yue, before using her increased muscle fiber density, courtesy of her gene mods, to jump to the roof above the warehouse door.

From there she vaulted over some vents and came to a skylight. Looking down into the warehouse, she saw that there were three new kinds of hostile in a small group in the middle of the building "We've got company, and they're different from the ones we saw out front, they look like some kind of insectoid centaurs..."

"Target's acquired, firing," said Wolfy, bringing his Minigun to bare, and firing off a steady stream of bullets, killing one. The other two, however, dodged his bullets, and ran to the windows on the sides of the warehouse.

"Strikes One and Two, be advised, unknown enemies are on the loose, and they're not those 'Floaters' we ran into earlier," exclaimed Talia, as she broke the skylight and jumped through, grabbing the edge of the light and using it to swing to the catwalk that ran through the middle of the room. From there she ran to the right side of the building and went on overwatch.

Meanwhile, Katelyn was dealing with one of the stray aliens that Talia had warned them about. The thing had just jumped out of the building, and was making it's way towards Her, Heinrich, and Arsten. "COME AND GET IT!" yelled Wrecker, hefting his LMG and unleashing a spray of bullets.

The alien dodged the spray of fire, and got up close to Arsten. It reared back and, with a strong forward motion, impaled Arsten on its forelegs, which were both sharpened to scythe-like points. Arsten let out a dying scream, before it got cut off by his death gurgle, as the creature yanked its legs out of his corpse, letting it fall to the ground. The thing then leaned over his corpse and injected it with something from some kind of proboscis.

"DIE DAMN YOU!" yelled Katelyn, aiming down her shotguns sights and firing off a twelve gauge shell, blowing the creature's head clean off it's shoulders.

"Catgirl, what's wrong?" Talia's voice came on over the radio, sounding slightly worried.

"Oh, it's nothing Phade, absolutely nothing, ONE OF MY DAMN SQUADMATES JUST GOT KILLED!" shouted Katelyn, her voice dripping with anger and venom.

"Unngh..." said Philip's corpse, standing up from where it had been lying, one hand clutching it's stomach, the other hanging uselessly from its-

BLAM "One shot, One kill" said Hai Yue, as his Sniper shot blew the head off of the zombie that had once been Philip Arsten.

"Thanks Rune, I really owe ya for that!" said Kately, before radioing Talia "Phade, those aliens that got away from ya? Anything that they kill, they'll try to turn into a zombie, please advise?"

Talia was silent for a moment, before saying "Alright then, prioritise these new hostiles over any other enemy contacts you may find. And Catgirl? I'm sorry about Wrecker..."

"Eh, don't worry about it Phade! 'E was a sexist arsehole anyway" explained Katelyn, reloading her shotgun and looking for civilians.

"Catgirl, two civilians, north east of you!" called out Rune, and the mission went on.

* * *

 _2115, Hanger, XCOM HQ, Isle of Man, UK, April 6th 2015_

Talia sighed as she stepped off of the skyranger and back onto solid ground. In the end, while XCOM had lost one soldier, they had failed to save three of the civilians, and those numbers would have been higher if not for Faye, bravely dashing into the warehouse to rescue Talia and Hai Yue along with two civilians before the building collapsed.

Talia smiled, and shook her head, _'Maybe she IS the one. Maybe I CAN trust her'_ she thought as she walked towards the infirmary for her after-mission check-up.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a "Hey, Phade!" from Faye, who had just jumped off the skyranger herself.

"Huh? Yeah, what is it?" said Talia, not stopping.

"Nothing really, I just wanted to thank you for being there on that mission. If it wasn't for you, I don't know HOW many times I would have died..." murmured Faye, knowing that Talia's hearing would pick up what she said.

Talia smiled, and said "Don't mention it, if anything I should be thanking YOU. If it wasn't for you, I would have died back there in that warehouse, right along with Rune and those two civvies..."

Faye brightened up, and was about to say more when "Lieutenant Bladewing to the infirmary, Lieutenant Bladewing to the infirmary" came on over the radio.

"Sorry Faye, I gotta run, Maybe we can continue this talk some other time?" Talia said, starting to increase her speed.

"Yeah! Talk to you later Talia!" Faye yelled, as Talia smiled in response, and started running for the infirmary.

* * *

 _2115, Commander's quarters, XCOM HQ, Isle of Man, UK, April 6th 2015_

Commander Sarah Rose was livid, "WHOSE IDEA WAS IT TO NAME THIS OPERATION 'RABID WHOVIAN'?!"

Bradford wisely kept quiet about the whole naming fiasco, and decided to never put up a public poll on operation names ever again.

* * *

 **A/N: Well now, that was interesting. Just so everyone knows, since the review system on seems to be broken at the moment, I'm going to have to ask you to send me your reviews via PM for the time being. Criticism is welcomed, compliments may earn shout-outs, and flames will be used to keep me warm, set my enemies on fire, and power my starships.**

 **Anyway, that was Chapter four, and I'll see you next week in Chapter five: Attack on UFO!**


	5. Chapter 5: Attack on UFO

**A/N: Oh dear Primals, I'm SO SORRY about the late chapter, I completely forgot that I still hadn't written this weeks chapter yet, and as a result I didn't even START writing it until the last minute. Anyway, enough ranting, here have a chapter everyone!**

 **Oh! and before I forget, if any of you lot are RWBY fans, go check out The New Flames Of Hope, by ArchSinccubus. It's a GREAT post volume 3 story that I'm probably going to go back and reread sometime soon. Also, If your a fan of Crossovers, try Filthy Landlubber's story Dragons of the Mojave, a Crossover between, you guessed it! Skyrim and Fallout! Also, I'll probably start giving story shout-outs at the beginnings of chapters from now on, just because I feel like it, but that doesn't mean you have to return the favor unless you want to, so go! Fly my pretties!**

* * *

 _1534, Mission Control, XCOM HQ, Isle of Man, UK, April 24th 2015_

Central Officer John Bradford was standing on the room-wide walkway, in front of the Hologlobe, when it happened. He had hoped that the most exciting part of his day would be an abduction site cropping up somewhere unusual, like the Antarctic, or maybe the council calling in, asking for a squad to go out on some special mission or other. Instead, what he got was the Commander bursting into Mission Control, waving a clipboard above her head, yelling "BRADFORD, I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

Bradford sighed and turned to face the outraged Commander "What is it Commander?" he said, a look of regret on his face.

"You put up a damn public poll for mission names! That's what! And for a terror mission no less!" shouted the Commander, her expression livid, and riddled with rage.

Bradford opened his mouth and was about to reply, when claxons started blaring all across the base, and a new contact popped up on the Hologlobe, base personnel immediately started scrambling for their work stations, pulling up data relevant to the new contact, and closing the windows that held the games of Solitaire that they used to pass the time. "Get me a report on the contact!" yelled Bradford, leaning on the guardrail of the walkway.

One of the technicians immediately responded "Sir! It's a small ship, probably a scout of some kind. It's currently over Japan; it looks like it's scanning for something, maybe our satellite? Anyway, we have an interceptor based in Japan, should we deploy it?"

Bradford nodded and said "shoot it down."

* * *

 _1540, Skies over Japan, April 24th 2015_

"Central, this is Voodoo Three-Seven; we've got eyes on the Bandit!" These were the first words uttered by Second Lieutenant Sasaki Wakana as she piloted her Raven-class interceptor into a comfortable pursuit range, and proceeded to begin locking on with her Avalanche missiles.

"Affirmative Voodoo Three-Seven, you are free to engage the target" Bradford's voice crackled over the radio, making Wakana smile, as she pulled the trigger, her first volley of missiles detaching from the bottom of her craft, and speeding off towards the UFO. Remarkably, of the four missiles that she had launched, three hit their mark, tearing open part of the UFO's propulsion system, causing it to jerk and wobble slightly.

"I've got a hit!" said Wakana, preparing her second, and last, volley. After locking on, she had to make a sudden dodge maneuver, as some kind of green energy went flying past her cockpit, "Woah!"

Bradford's voice suddenly came on over the radio "Voodoo Three-Seven, either shoot that thing down now or get out of there. At your current speed, you won't have enough fuel left in your engines to make it back to base!"

"Affirmative, executing target" Wakana said, locking back onto the UFO, and firing her last four missiles. All four missiles hit, and the UFO went down, "well, that was easier than expected" Wakana muttered, then to Bradford "Central, this is Voodoo Three-Seven. We have a Confirmed kill on Bogey Zero-Zero-One. I repeat, the UFO is down, how copy? Over"

* * *

 _1540, Mission Control, XCOM HQ, Isle of Man, UK, April 24th 2015_

Clapping rose up all around the room, as technicians laughed, punched the air, and slapped each other on the back for a job well done, while Bradford Radioed the interceptor pilot, saying "Solid copy Voodoo Three-Seven, nice work. Central out"

Bradford then addressed the rest of Mission Control "Alright people. Retask RECON Satellite Bravo and get me a visual on that Crash Site"

"She's coming into range now, Sir" Said one of the technicians, taping a few buttons on his control console.

"On Screen" said the Commander, crossing her arms and standing next to Bradford. A cloud came on screen, with a gap just large enough that they could redirect and magnify the camera, so that they could view the crash site.

The UFO wreck came into view, the satellite highlighting it, stopping the feed, and giving them as much tactical data as it could.

"Holy-" said the Commander "Still in one piece?! How is that possible?" she shook her head, and turned to Bradford, "Central, get Strike One. We're taking out any survivors, and salvaging the wreck."

* * *

 _1550, Hanger, XCOM HQ, Isle of Man, UK, April 24th 2015_

Talia stood at attention, hands behind her back, waiting for the Commander to arrive at the hanger. To her left stood Faye, her shotgun resting loosely in her hands, the new Skeleton suit Vahlen had made securely strapped on, giving her more protection than their old Kevlar vests, as well as an integrated grappling hook. And to her right, stood Anna and Marco, wearing Carapace armor; a more protective, but less agile, version of the Skeleton suit that lacked the grappling hook. Talia herself was also wearing one of the Skeleton suits, and behind them all was Wolfy, fully equipped and ready for combat.

"Hey, Phade?" Faye suddenly whispered in Talia's ear, causing her to jump.

"Yes Fullmetal?" replied Talia.

"Do you-?" she started, then seemed to decide against whatever she was going to say, and stopped.

"Do I what? What is it Corporal?" Talia asked, now curious.

"Never mind, it's nothing. It was a stupid question anyway..." whispered Faye, looking at her feet, at the ceiling, anywhere but at Talia.

The aforementioned Sniper turned and put her hands on Faye's cheeks, and turned her so that they faced each other "Look kid, I've been around long enough to know that there's no such thing as a stupid question. There are unintelligent questions, but not stupid questions." she said, letting go of Faye, "Now, what were you going to say?"

"Phade, do you-?" before Faye could finish, however, the door to the hanger opened, and the Commander walked through, effectively cutting whatever Faye was about to say.

"Alright people, here's the deal, we've splashed a UFO above Japan, it's gone down in a rural area due east of Mount Minako, we don't know how many Aliens survived, so it'll be a bit hit-and-miss on how we'll determine when it's safe to bring in the salvage crew. Anyway, you've all been equipped with XCOM's latest and greatest technology and, as a result, you'll be the ones responsible for field testing it. Corporal, I assume you have the Arc Thrower?"

"Ma'am, yes Ma'am!" belted out Faye, completely oblivious to the fact that the Commander had decided to let Strike One call her whatever the hell they wanted, regardless of formality. _Probably because I completely forgot to tell any of them_ Talia thought, completely breaking the fourth wall.

"Good! As a secondary objective, you're to try to capture a live alien with the Arc Thrower. Please keep in mind, however, that that is a SECONDARY objective, not a primary objective, so don't go risking your life over it, am I CLEAR?!" said the Commander, shouting the last word.

"Clear as crystal, Scarlet, clear as crystal." said Talia, before turning to her squad and yelling "Alright people, let's MOVE!"

A loud "Ma'am, yes Ma'am!" from the rest of Strike One was the only response Talia needed, as she turned and lead them onto the Skyranger.

"Hey, Fullmetal, what were you going to tell me earlier, before the Commander interrupted us?" asked Talia, sitting down in her usual seat, in the very back of the Skyranger.

"I'll tell you later, assuming we both survive this mission." replied Faye, sitting down across from Talia.

"Fair enough" replied the Sniper, as the back of the Skyranger closed, and the craft's engines rumbled to life, beginning their long flight to Japan.

* * *

 _1900, Slopes of Mount Minako, Japan, April 24th 2015_

"Central, this Strike One, we've reached the crash site, requesting permission to deploy, over." Talia said, readying her IWS 2000, and tensing her leg muscles in preparation to make a jump up to the nearest tree branch.

"Strike One, this is Central, permission granted, you may deploy when ready, over and out." said Bradford, before the radio cut out, leaving Strike One on their own.

"Alright people, you heard the man, let MOVE!" said Talia, pushing off the ground, using the heightened muscle density in her legs to propel herself upwards, landing on one of the stronger looking tree branches. The tree branch was not, however, as strong as it looked, and it broke, letting Talia tumble down to the ground with the loud SNAP of breaking wood.

"OW!" Talia yelled, pulling herself up, and looking around, "Well, the Aliens know we're here now, Alpha, which way is the crash site?"

"It is 150 meters west of here, Phade" the MEC trooper said, hefting his Minigun.

"Alright then, let's roll!" yelled Talia, jumping up to another tree branch, which didn't break like the last one had, and beginning to jump between the trees, in a manner very reminiscent of a ninja.

After about two minutes, Talia came within visual range of the crashed alien ship, It was a round, disc-like craft, with a greenish grey coloration, and apparent entry points on the northern, eastern, southern, and western sides. From what she could see, there were about five Sectoids, three Thin Men, and three Floaters, all around the entrance nearest her. Fortunately, there didn't seem to be any of the aliens that had shown up on the terror mission that Vahlen had decided to name Chryssalids.

After a few minutes, Talia decided on a plan "Alright, here's what we're going to do, Fullmetal, Quantum, Doombringer, take cover by those rocks, Alpha, when I give the signal, rush up into their view, and take out the Sectoid on the far left, when that happens, Doombringer will lay down suppressing fire on those Thin Men, while Fullmetal moves up the that piece of wreckage there and takes out two of those Floaters, then use the Arc Thrower on the third. Alpha and I will take care of the remaining aliens" she explained, "Any questions?"

"Negative" said Anna.

"N-n-no Ma'am-m" stuttered Marco.

"No Ma'am" said Wolfy.

"Nope!" pipped Faye.

"Alright then. GO!" yelled Talia. At first the plan went smoothly, Wolfy ran out into the open, letting loose with his Minigun, a veritable storm of 5.56mm rounds tearing into the targeted Sectoid, causing it's blood and guts to splatter across the side of the UFO behind it. Anna, Marco, and Faye all ran up to the rock that Talia had designated for them, and Anna began spraying bullets at the Thin Men. However, as Faye made her move, running up to the piece of wreckage that Talia had designated for her, Alien weapons fire came spraying out at her from the ship, splashing off of the back of her armor, causing her to trip. She only barely managed to turn her fall into a roll, letting her keep her momentum as she dashed into cover, "Phade, what the hell? Why didn't you tell me that there was an Alien inside of the ship?!" Faye yelled.

Talia immediately radioed Faye "I didn't know that there was an Alien inside of the ship!" she said as she scanned the entrance of the ship nearest to Faye, spotting a new contact that looked like it was some kind of android, with a crystal of some kind in its chest.

After Talia gave her rough description of the new kind of Alien to both the rest of Strike One, and Central, Faye exclaimed "I'm gonna try and hit it with the Arc Thrower! Cover me!"

"FULLMETAL NO!" Talia veritably roared, "Grr, Damnit all!" she raised her Rifle, and began picking off the Floaters, her gene mods allowing her to quickly make adjustments and corrections without missing a beat, killing all three Floaters in as many seconds.

Meanwhile Faye managed to get close enough to the new kind of hostile to allow her to use her Arc Thrower.

The sudden jolt of electricity hit the Alien straight on, causing its exoskeleton to disintegrate, leaving only the crystal behind. "What the heck?" said Faye, reaching to pick up the crystal.

"No!" Talia yelled, startling Faye, "Don't try and pick it up, not just yet. We'll let the salvage crew deal with it..."

"Okay ma'am, I don't see any Contacts inside the UFO, are there any left outside?" asked Faye.

"That's a negative, Fullmetal." said Wolfy, reloading his Minigun.

"Alright then people, let's go home." said Talia, standing up from her position behind one of the trees that surrounded the crash site, and turning towards the Skyranger.

* * *

 _2210, Hanger, XCOM HQ, Isle of Man, UK, April 24th 2015_

"Well Lieutenant, I must say I'm impressed. Somehow, you managed to successfully capture an Alien. And new previously unencountered one at that!" bubbled Vahlen upon the return of Strike One, as they walked out of the Skyranger, and towards the Infirmary.

"Vahlen" said the Commander "Let them be, they've been through hell as it is. Let them rest"

"Thanks Scarlet, I owe one. Again." said Talia, as she passed by the Commander.

"No problem Bladewing" replied the Commander.

"Now then, Fullmetal, what were you going to ask me before the mission?" asked Talia, turning towards Faye.

"Oh, nothing. Nothing you'd find important, anyway" she responded, dejectedly.

"If you say so, Fullmetal. If you say so..." Talia responded, as she made her way to the infirmary for her post-mission medical.

 _I think she is the one, but- Can I tell her? SHOULD I tell her? I don't know, I'll give it time, maybe I'll know tomorrow_ Talia thought as she walked, hoping that maybe, just maybe; she had found someone she could talk to about the Incident.

* * *

 **A/N: Again, I'm SO SORRY about the chapter being late. However one: I've already apologized for it, and two: I have to give a shout-out! Many thanks to Astrocaro2b for Leaving not one, not two, but THREE reviews on this story. I may know her IRL, but that doesn't mean that the reviews mean anything less to me! so thank you! In other news, I'm going to start writing the next chapter tomorrow, as soon as I get home from my Art class, so if you'll excuse me: I'd like to read some of the Fanfictions written by other people to fill my head with inspiration! I'll see you all next week for Chapter Six: A Past Remembered! And don't forget to R &R if you have something to say! after all, It helps keep me motivated!**


	6. Chapter 6: A past remembered

**A/N: Heeeerrrrrrrre's Chapter Six! This weeks shout-out goes to Akari78, and her story, Two Thieves and a Lioness, a wonderfully written Skyrim story about the Dragonborn, Vex, and Mjoll the Lioness! And a bonus shout-out to user jesterfield for Following this story! Thanks Human!**

* * *

 _1025, Talia Bladewing's quarters, XCOM HQ, Isle of Man, UK, July 6th 2015_

Talia was in her own personal hell, after thinking about whether or not to tell Faye about the Incident for the past three months, she had finally decided to tell her. However, at lunch the previous day, a fight between Anna and Marco broke out, with Anna wanting to know why Marco was never able to go out with her. After the two fought for almost the entirety of lunch, Marco finally ended the fight by revealing that the reason he didn't want to go out with her was that he was, in fact, Gay. This didn't come as a shock to Talia; however it HAD come as a shock to Anna, who hadn't taken the news well, as she had stormed off to the bases gym, and had been there for the rest of that day. However, their little fight had stopped Talia from talking to Faye, and as a result, she had begun to lose control of her emotions, sending her into a downward spiral of depression. She knew she shouldn't cut herself; she had been doing SO WELL. But in the end, she had lost, and now, she had a new line of fifty-one cuts on her arms, the usual forty-eight, plus three new names, for the civilians that had died in the terror mission three months ago.

Of course, the accelerated healing that being infused with meld gave her ultimately made the cuts pointless, as the healed before she could truly take solace in the clarity of mind that the pain brought her, but that didn't mean she couldn't try.

"Talia? Are you in there?" It was Faye, but how could Talia face her like this? She had cuts running down her arms, there was blood everywhere, and with the chaos of emotion inside she doubted she could sound coherent enough to hold a conversation, and even if she could- Her thought process was interrupted by the creaking of her door opening, and a shrill gasp from Faye, "Talia? Are- are you okay?" she said, fear clear in her ever beautiful voice.

Talia took a deep rattling breath and said "Yeah... yeah, I'm fine, I just- I can't do this anymore..."

"Do what? Work for XCOM?" asked Faye, the fear in her voice now replaced with worry.

"No, I can't keep on going without telling someone. I thought I could, but I guess I was wrong... and now it's coming back to bite me..." replied Talia, trying to curl in on herself even more the she already was.

"Tell someone about what?" asked Faye, walking in, closing the door, and sitting down next to Talia, ignoring the blood on the floor.

"About the Incident. Back when I was in the US military." said Talia, curling up tighter, trying to keep herself as far away from the nearest human being, in this case, Faye, as possible.

"Then tell ME Talia, tell me what happened, and why you're like this. Why you cut yourself."

Talia took a deep breath, and began talking "Okay, here goes..."

* * *

 _Flashback, first person perspective, Talia Bladewing._

It was ten years ago, we were doing a routine patrol, back then, everything seemed so much simpler. My squad consisted of Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Rose, Callsign 'Scarlet', Sergeant Eric Lanford, Callsign: Ulysses, Sergeant first class Amelie Johnson, a few others who aren't that important. Anyway, we were on patrol, it started out perfectly normal, but, as we were approaching a small bridge just a few kilometers south of our base, it happened. A small IED planted on the side of the road a few meters short of the bridge was detonated; Sergeant Johnson was killed instantly, the explosion literally tearing her body in half. I never saw what happened to Ulysses, he disappeared during the fighting, and they never did find him. In the ensuing firefight, me and Scarlet were the only survivors, it took us three days of traveling on foot to get back to our base; I managed to get through the whole thing mostly unscathed, but Scarlet took a piece of shrapnel to her leg, and we ran into a small group of hostiles just outside of the bases entrance, I got a scar by my mouth, and Scarlet got a bullet to the shoulder, and three stabs to her chest. Fortunately we were close enough to the base to get her stabilized, but the damage was done, the last stab wound went straight through her abdomen, and into her uterus, leaving her sterile. After she recovered, she got me an honorable discharge, and told me to "Find someone you love, settle down with them, and don't blame yourself for what happened".

I never could find someone who I truly loved, my parents disowned me when I was sixteen, after they found out I was lesbian, none of my relatives were ever very close to me, and my only friends died in Afghanistan. I was all alone, in the end. After hopping between jobs, for a few months, I saved up enough to move to the UK, and after a little bit of work, I ended up making my home here on the Isle of Man. that was three years ago.

* * *

 _Flashback end_

"... And there you have it, a quick summary of the Incident, and why I'm such a failure. Because that's what I am; a failure, a screw-up, an abomination." said Talia, a tear running down her cheek as she began to cry.

"Talia, you're NOT a FAILURE!" Faye said, kneeling in front of Talia and putting her hands on her cheeks, forcing her to make eye contact "Look around you, would a failure have all this? Would a failure be the highest performing soldier in XCOM? Would a failure have friends who would give their lives to keep her safe?" Faye let go of Talia's face, and let her hands at her sides, looking down slightly, and thinking _would a failure be the person I fell in love with?_

Talia looked up at Faye, and, for the first time since the Incident, her eyes weren't filled with the dark, sad clouds that usually made her emotions so hard to read. Instead her eyes seemed to glow with the soothing light of closure; she finally realized that blaming herself for what happened wouldn't get her anywhere. She wasn't healed, not yet, but she was on the right path. She opened her mouth and laughed, before pulling Faye into a close embrace, saying "Thank you, Faye. Thank you for helping me; I won't forget this, I swear, I'll never forget this moment"

And then there was silence, and they just sat like that, neither one moving, just holding each other, and thinking that maybe, just maybe, everything would be alright. However, this moment, like all things, had to come to an end. And, after the neither of them showed up for lunch in the mess hall, Anna came down to check on Talia, and make sure she was alright "Talia?! You alright in there?!" she shouted, causing both Talia and Faye to stir, leaving their mutual embrace, and standing up, letting Talia pull her gloves back on, and answer.

"I'm fine! And so is Faye-" Talia cut herself off as soon as Faye's name came out of her mouth, then rushed to the door, opened it, grabbed Anna by her collar, and growled "A word of this to anyone, and you're DEAD, got it?!"

Anna just nodded and smiled knowingly, and calmly walked off after Talia let go of her collar. _And thus, a loving couple starts..._ she thought, rounding the corner and stepping onto the lift, heading back to the mess hall.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for the comparatively short chapter, but I couldn't think of anything else that needed to be said, so I just wrote what needed to be wrote. Also, for those of you who are wondering, I do plan out all of my chapter's before hand, I have a piece of paper with the chapter names all written out on it, so I know what the chapter's will be before hand. Anyway, I hope all have enjoyed, feedback is appreciated, but not required, and I'll see you all next week in Chapter Seven: Portentous Attack!**


	7. Chapter 7: Portentous Attack

**A/N: Well folks, this weeks shout out goes to Picking Up The Pieces, By etheriell. Picking up the pieces is a RWBY aftermath fic set in an AU where the attack on Beacon doesn't occur until the characters last year at Beacon. Be warned, this story contains many, MANY feels.**

 **Anyway, enjoy this weeks chapter!**

* * *

 _2345, Skyranger over France, July 8th, 2015_

"Okay Strike one, here's the deal: The Council has been monitoring unusual reports about a hijack attempt on an unauthorized French military convoy. Although the alleged perpetrators were human, our Intel indicates the aliens may also have been in the area. If true, this raises a number of questions about the cargo being moved. The convoy's current status is unknown. Be prepared for anything. Investigate the area of operations. Locate and secure any survivors as well as the convoy's cargo. Eliminate any remaining opposition. Central out" The radio transmission cut out as the five members of Strike One readied their respective weapons, and prepared to deploy.

"Alright, roll call," yelled Talia "Alpha!"

"Ready, Ma'am!"

"Doombringer!"

"Let's give 'em hell!"

"Quantum!"

"R-r-read-d-dy M-ma'am-m!"

"Faye!"

"I'm combat ready!"

"Alright, let's go!"

 _2346, La Roche-sur-Yon, France, July 8th 2015_

The back of the Skyranger opened, and Talia leapt down, landing lightly on her feet thanks to her Gene Mods, and lifted her AMR up to her shoulder, scanning the area for contacts. Faye landed next to her, raising her Shotgun and waiting for orders. Anna and Wolfy landed next, the former hitching a ride on the back of the latter. Last of the group was Marco, sliding down his rope, and raising his assault rifle. "Okay, looks like we have two buildings in the AO, I'm going to use the rooftops of them both to provide covering fire, Doombringer, what do we have in the way of explosives?" Talia said, readying her grappling hook.

"I've got four HE grenades, two Shredders" Anna replied, spinning the revolving magazine on her MGL-140 Grenade Launcher.

"Good, keep the HE's at the ready. Faye, you, Alpha, Doombringer, and Quantum head into that warehouse just ahead, I think that there's one a garage door on the other side. Take cover in area's that give a clear line of sight on the garage door. Faye, you get the honors of being the one to open it on my signal" Talia ordered, grappling onto the roof, and moving over to the other side of the building. "Okay, here's the situation, on the other side of the garage door, there are two Thin Men. Doombringer, as soon as you have line of sight on them, hit 'em with an HE grenade. Quantum, if either of the X-rays survives ice 'em. Sync?"

"Sync!"

"Alright then. Faye, open it"

Faye nodded, and slid the garage door open, revealing the pair of Thin Men to the rest of the squad. "Screw justice! High explosives rain from above!" yelled Anna, firing her grenade launcher.

The Thin Men didn't stand a chance, as the grenade hit the ground between them, it exploded, the shrapnel eviscerating them, leaving only two piles of alien blood and guts, and a cloud of poison gas in its wake. "Well, that was awesome." said Anna, rotating her MGLs magazine so that another HE grenade was in place, then slinging it on her back, bringing her M249 SAW to bear.

"And what was that you said back in Operation: Rising Raven about me making a mess?" Talia exclaimed, scanning the rest of the street through her scope.

"Y-y-yeah, ye-eah, c-c-can we j-just-t GO alr-read-dy?" said Marco, nervously fiddling with his rifle.

"Oh, yeah, right, Faye, you and Alpha move up, going to the left of the building up ahead. Quantum, Doombringer, you do the same, only you're going to the right" Talia said, jumping down and running into the building, Desert Eagle in hand.

"Affirmative, moving to designated coordinates."

"Got it, moving!"

"R-r-rodger th-that-t, I'm g-going-ng."

"On it, let's rock!"

As the two groups split up and went their separate ways, Talia crept into what she assumed was the front part of the building, which, if her intuition was anything to go by, was some kind of bookstore, combined with a fantasy shop. On the walls there were weapons and other forms of memorabilia from various different Anime, Manga, TV Shows, and Video Games. Talia saw what looked like a Katana, on the floor in front of her. Curious, she picked it up. It was about three feet long, with the curved, single edged blade that identified it as a Katana, the sheath was fairly plain, with no fancy decorations, just like the blade once she pulled it out. "Huh, cool!" Talia muttered, re-sheathing the blade, and clipping it to her belt, before taking cover behind the wall at the front of the store.

"Faye, Alpha, be careful, there's a Thin Man on top of the truck in front of the building I'm in" Talia said, holstering her Desert Eagle, and readying her AMR.

"Hey, Phade, there're bodies over here, and they don't look like they were killed by the aliens. They look like they were killed by conventional bullets..." Anna said over the Radio.

Images suddenly flashed before Talia's eyes; sand, a desert... bodies, fallen friends, dead enemies... It was the Incident. "We will find the ones who did this, and we will make them pay. Faye, can you hit the Thin Man with one of your throwing knives?"

A clear "Yes" was the only thing Talia needed to hear.

"Good, do it. Doombringer, continue moving up the street, if it moves and it isn't human, kill it. Quantum, the same goes for you." Talia said, and smiled as she saw a six inch long knife fly through the air and bury itself in the Thin Man's forehead, knocking it off of the truck, with neither a sound nor a poison gas cloud.

"A ten point throw!" exclaimed Faye, running up and taking cover behind the truck that the Thin Man had been standing on top of, smiling.

Seeing Faye smile made Talia lift the corner of her mouth slightly, before bashing open the door of the store, and taking cover behind a block of concrete. Looking around, Talia saw a man in what looked like a dress shirt and suspenders, with orange bandana wrapped around his face, crouching in a corner made by two cars that had crashed into each other. "Central, this is Phade, It looks like we've got a survivor, can I bring him in? Over." inquired Talia, keeping her rifle ready.

"Phade, this Central, go ahead with the extraction of the survivor, over." Central said his voice crackling over the radio.

Talia nodded. "Copy that, over and out." she said as she vaulted the block of concrete and dashed over to the man.

"Sir!" she said, grabbing the man's shoulder "You need to come with me, it's not safe here!"

The man looked up at her and, coughing, said "You XCOM? Bah... doesn't matter, might as well just leave me here... I've got nothing to say to you people..."

Talia, slightly shocked the man knew about XCOM, said "Look, you can come with me of your own free will, or I can knock you out, and drag you back to the Skyranger. Your choice"

The man hesitated, before nodding and getting ready to make a run for it. "Alright, Quantum, Doombringer, do we have a clear path down you side of the street?"

"Affirmative Phade, there are no hostiles on this side of the street, you are clear to make a run for it" Anna responded.

Talia smiled, and said "Fullmetal, get to my position, you're going to be escorting our friend here to the Skyranger. Alpha, you go ahead and keep the path to the Skyranger clear. Doombringer, Quantum, you two are going to keep the warehouse roof clear, I'm going to provide fire support from this building here, sync?"

A chorus of "Sync!"s met Talia's ears, and she shouted "Okay, let's GO!"

Faye and the man started running to the Skyranger at full tilt, the one with her shotgun up and ready, the other with his hands empty, chanting "Buddha help me, Buddha help me, Buddha help me!"

"Strike One, we're detecting a wave of hostile reinforcements enroute to your position, stay frosty" Central radioed in, making Faye stumble slightly. The man took advantage of this, tackling her, and grabbing for her sidearm.

"Talia! Help me!" Faye yelled, and Talia's vision changed, everything turning different shades of orange, time seemed to slow down, everything seemed... sharper.

Talia knew that she couldn't use her rifle, as it could easily punch through the man and hit Faye. She couldn't use her Desert Eagle, because the range was too short to hit anything accurately, which left her no option but to try and run up to the man and try to subdue him. Talia tensed her legs, and jumped, rolling as she landed only twenty feet away from the man, and ran up to him, slamming the butt of her rifle into the back of his head hard enough to knock him unconscious. "You okay, Faye?" Talia said, time resuming its normal pace as she helped Faye to her feet.

"Yeah... yeah, I'm okay... just reliving some bad memories, that's all..." Faye replied, letting her shotgun fall to her waist, dangling from its sling, as she hoisted the man over her shoulder, and pulled out her own Desert Eagle.

"Okay, let's get moving then." said Talia, grappling up to the roof of the warehouse.

"Doombringer, Quantum, you done up here?" asked Talia, looking around the roof of the warehouse.

"Yeah, the roofs clear, what now?" asked Anna, lifting her LMG, and resting it over one shoulder.

"Help Faye get to the Evac point" Talia responded, taking up a Sniping position at the edge of the roof.

"Copy that, c'mon Quantum" said Anna, sliding down the ladder that was situated next to one of the skylights, quickly followed by Marco.

The rest of the mission went by flawlessly, with only two more Thin Men getting between Strike One and the evac point.

 _0215, Hanger, XCOM HQ, Isle of Man, UK, July 9th 2015_

Talia and Faye both walked off of the Skyranger together, smiling. "Hey, Phade, can I ask you something?" asked Anna, who followed them quickly.

"Sure, what is it?" replied Talia, turning to face Anna.

"How come you and Fullmetal were calling each other by you first names back there on the mission?" asked Anna, causing both Talia and Faye to start spluttering and trying to explain that it was just a "Heat of the moment" thing.

Anna laughed and said "Relax, don't worry about! It's not a big deal if you two are dating or something!"

Talia rolled her eyes "Look, Doombringer, I really don't see myself going very far with ANYONE in terms of a serious relationship, much less with Faye."

Then she looked at Faye, and said "Are you okay?" as she noticed Faye was, well, not looking so good. Her eyes looked like they were on the brink of tears, she was looking at her feet, and she was slowly inching away from Talia. "Faye?"

"Talia..." Anna said, "Saying THAT? After what you told her three days ago?"

Talia's face slowly grew from the cocky smirk that she usually had after a successful mission, to one of horror at what she had just told Faye. She turned to apologize, but it was too late, Faye had taken off running towards her room. Talia was about to give chase, but Anna placed her hand on her shoulder, and shook her head saying "I don't think she wants' to see you right now, Talia. Leave her be."

Talia nodded, and started walking towards the Infirmary, thinking _Faye... I'm sorry... I didn't realize just how you felt until now, and now it's probably too late for me to tell you... that it's not unreciprocated... Faye... I love you..._

* * *

 **A/N: Well, that was a thing. And, I have a question for you people: I... haven't been enjoying writing this part of the story, and this part of the series as a whole, so I want your opinion: should I try and power through it, and give you a more detailed, but also lower quality, first book? Or should I write in the rest of what I want to write about in this story, and then cut it short and move on to the next book? Please, let me know, I have a lot of plans for what I want to do with this series, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to write them all!**


End file.
